CrimeaPRESS reports:
During peak tick activity, it is important to take care of the safety of your four-legged friend. In addition to treating your pet for parasites, you need to examine your dog after every walk. We tell you where ticks are most often found and what mistakes you should not make so as not to harm your dog.
Of course, you need to examine the whole dog, but pay special attention to places where there is little hair and blood vessels are located close to the surface of the skin. If you find a tick on your dog, do not rush to remove it with your hands, trying to squeeze and pull it out, this can speed up the process of the virus entering the dog’s body from saliva. It is better to use a thread or special tools to remove ticks– comments the President of the Russian Cynological Federation Vladimir Golubev.
Where do ticks bite most often?
Bloodsuckers choose the place to bite carefully; they can examine the pet’s skin for several hours in search of a suitable area. As a rule, ticks have favorite places. Bites most often occur where blood vessels are located close to the surface of the skin and there is practically no hair. After your walk, check carefully area near the nose and around the eyes, groin, belly, area under the tail, neck, lower jaw, armpits, withers. It is also worth paying attention to area of folds and jowls. Carefully walk your hands over the dog, starting from the head. To make sure that you haven’t missed a tick, you can run a brush through the fur after the inspection.
What not to do
If you find a tick, do not try to immediately remove it with your hands, squeezing and making sudden movements. Such actions can speed up the process of the virus entering the dog’s body. Use a special device or thread (tying it as close to the skin as possible), spread the ends of the thread apart, pull it and lift it.
Do not expose the tick to oil, gasoline, nail polish or other irritants. Because of this, the tick begins to choke and releases a large amount of infected fluid into the wound: saliva or intestinal contents.
Some dog breeders leave the attached tick in the dog’s body so that it falls off on its own. You shouldn’t do this. The fact is that the longer a tick drinks blood, the greater the dose of pathogens it will have time to transmit to the pet.
Also, do not touch the insect with your bare hands; if you managed to remove a live tick, transfer it to a jar (if you plan to submit it for analysis) using tweezers or use gloves.
If the head or trunk remains in the dog’s body, they must be removed using sterile tweezers or a needle; this must be done, otherwise the bite site may become very inflamed.
Carefully monitor your pet’s condition after a tick bite. If you notice that your dog has become lethargic, refuses to eat, has diarrhea, vomiting, shortness of breath or other suspicious symptoms, immediately seek help from a veterinary clinic. Ticks are carriers of dangerous diseases, including piroplasmosis. If you delay starting treatment and allow the body to cope with the disease on its own, the dog may die.
For reference:
Russian Cynological Federation is one of the largest public associations in Russia, representing the interests of more than 5 million dog owners throughout the country, 4 million of whom are actively involved in scientific, breeding or training work. About 5.5 million dogs and 1.5 thousand kennel clubs, more than 22 thousand kennels from all regions of the country are registered in the RKF stud book. RKF is the only representative of Russia in the International Cynological Federation (FCI), which unites more than 90 countries of the world.
The main goal of the RKF is the development of domestic and world cynology, the popularization and cultivation of a responsible attitude towards dogs, as well as the creation of a scientific and regulatory framework for selection work in the field of breeding dog breeding. RKF is the originator and holder of standards for all domestic breeds, and maintains an electronic database of breeding dogs for more than 300 breeds.
Every year, more than ten thousand events take place in Russia under the auspices of the RKF. Educational activities are actively conducted and developed: the RKF has had a school for young handlers for more than 25 years, and the RKF educational center operates for a wide variety of audiences.
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